The Walking Dead: The Tower (10x15)

It looks like the finale of The Walking Dead has been postponed because of COVID-19, so this is where we will be leaving these characters for a while. How does this episode hold up as a finale? Let's dive in!

Cons:

I think Daryl and Judith are adorable and I always like seeing them together, but their scenes in this particular episode didn't really work for me the way I think they were supposed to. Far too sentimental, if I'm being honest. It just felt like Daryl was making a declaration that "I'll never leave you... but I can't promise because we don't know what's going to happen," specifically so people can be scared he's going to die. Now, I don't think they'll kill Daryl off. I think he's one of the last things holding this show together, honestly. But that whole moment with Judith seemed designed specifically to tease the potential of him getting hurt or dying or disappearing soon. I hate that kind of plodding, heavy-handed foreshadowing. And Judith was a little bit too "kid on TV" for me this week, with her pathetic little voice saying she doesn't want Daryl to leave her like Michonne did.

Also... Negan telling Lydia that he tied her up to keep her safe is such malarkey. It makes no sense that Lydia was ever tied up in the first place; it was so clearly just done to fool the audience about Negan's loyalties.

Pros:

One thing I did kind of appreciate about Judith and Daryl was that moment when Judith admits that Michonne is going off to help some people that she met, but she doesn't mention Rick. It's interesting to me that she kept that information back, even as I was dying to know what Daryl's reaction to the news would have been.

I liked Kelly and Carol spending some time together. You'd expect Kelly to hate Carol for her role in Connie's very-probable death, but in fact, Kelly says she understands Carol. She knows that she's always been the person who needs to handle things in her own way. And she gets being in denial about the right thing to do. I also loved how Kelly talked about sign language. As she has started to lose her hearing, she's been scared about what that means - but her Deafness is actually her super-power, as everyone around her starts to learn some ASL to be able to communicate with her. That's such an incredible and empowering message, and now I'm really hoping that knowing sign language is going to be a key skill in a vital moment. Maybe the gang can pass messages to each other discreetly without alerting Beta and the others? We'll have to see!

Beta has completely lost it, and it is honestly kind of fascinating to see. He has taken control of the Whisperers, but he bristles at the implication that he's the new Alpha. He remains Beta, and woe be to anyone who says otherwise. As the episode ends, we see the hoard closing in on our gang of intrepid heroes, leaving us on one hell of a cliffhanger. I want to be annoyed about this, because Alpha's death didn't actually really change much in terms of the Whisperers being a threat... but also, I think Beta is going more for an all-or-nothing strategy, while Alpha might have taken her time and tried something a bit more nuanced and clever. Also, we weren't meant to be left with this cliffhanger for long, and I can't exactly blame the show runners for the real-life pandemic that has put a temporary halt to the fake one in The Walking Dead.

My favorite part of this episode was the story with Princess! At first, I kept wondering if we were going to find out somehow that Princess was the person who had been talking to Eugene, luring him here in need of companionship, but that's not the route we went here. Princess really is just a loner trying to survive in a crazy world. Her isolation has clearly started to affect her mind. When Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Eugene meet Princess, she seems erratic at best, insane at worst. She scares away their horses with gunfire, and seems not at all self-conscious about the creepy Walker tableaux she has set up through town.

But she also wants to help. So even as Eugene is anxious to move on and reach the rendezvous, they follow Princess in search of promised vehicles. She leads them into a mine field, apparently just an accidental detour, but at the end of the day her loneliness and despair really endear her to the gang, and Yumiko, the most suspicious and cold from the start, extends her an invitation to join them on their journey.

I love Princess. She is an instantly invigorating presence on the show. She's funny, she's erratic to the point where you can't ever feel quite safe with her, which adds an interesting element. I loved the parallel between Princess and Eugene, as well. He too has lied to people just to keep them around. That's how we met him on the show, when he was pretending to have government information so Abraham and Rosita would keep him safe.

I liked that this whole plot thread sort of felt like a wacky detour, but also introduced a new character, who could be quite interesting, either in the short-term or as a more permanent addition to the cast. I'm also desperately wishing I could see Eugene meet his radio friend now... I can't believe we have to wait to find out more!

So there you have it. This episode was obviously not intended as a finale when it was written and shot, but I think it works pretty well nevertheless. We'll see how long we have to wait before we see the conclusion, and Maggie's return!

8/10